Evaluating prevalence of talon and Carabelli's cusps in tooth examination of patients referred to Dental School of Islamic Azad University of Tehran: A 2-year study

Carabelli's and talon accessory cusps are of anthropological and clinical significance. Considering the small number of research in this field on the Iranian race, evaluation of the prevalence of both of these dental traits seems necessary. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of talon cusp in lateral incisors and Carabelli’s cusp in maxillary first molars. This descriptive-analytical (cross-sectional) study was carried out by dental cast preparation and direct observation on 356 random cases. The results were analyzed with chi-squared test using SPSS 17 (α=0.05). Among 356 referred patients, 214 cases (61%) had Carabelli’s cusp and 17 cases (5%) had talon cusp. A total of 140 cases (65%) of Carabelli’s cusps were bilateral and 74 cases (35%) were unilateral. For talon cusp, 12 cases (71%) were bilateral and 5% (29%) were unilateral. No significant association was seen between gender and Carabelli’s cusp (p value = 0.279) and talon cusp (p value = 0.759). Carabelli's cusp had a tendency to be bilateral (p value = 0.001). Unlike talon cusp, the prevalence of Carabelli’s cusp was significant in the Iranian population. It was mostly bilateral and not gender-dependent.